The following is Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's testimony to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure as prepared for delivery. Please check against delivery.

"Good morning, Chairman Mica and Ranking Member Rahall.
Thank you for calling this hearing and inviting me to testify. I'd also
like to recognize Subcommittee Chair Bill Shuster and Congressmen Jerrold Nadler
and Michael Grimm from New York City.

"It's appropriate that this hearing is taking place in
Grand Central. Like the Erie Canal, the transcontinental railroad, and the
interstate highway system, it's a monument to our nation's tradition of dreaming
big and investing in our future. Together, those transportation networks opened
up new markets and made us the globe's economic superpower.

"But that was a long time ago. Today, our nation invests
just over two percent of our GDP in infrastructure. Meanwhile, Europe invests at
twice that rate and China at almost three times it.

"In 2007, I visited Shanghai. I landed at the airport
and got on a magnetic levitation train capable of traveling at 250 miles per
hour. Other countries in Asia, Europe and the Middle East are building bullet
trains too. So what is America waiting for?

"If we're going to maintain our global economic
competitiveness, we must re-commit to infrastructure. With former Governors Ed
Rendell and Arnold Schwarzenegger, I've formed a bi-partisan coalition called
Building America's Future that has been working to build support around this
vital issue.

"We welcome your committee's strong interest in
high-speed rail and I'm glad to hear that a consensus is emerging around why it
should be built here in the Northeast.

"As you know, the Northeast is the nation's largest
economy. The region is home to the nation's major centers of business,
government, finance, medicine, entrepreneurship, and education.

"One hundred-and-sixty-two Fortune 500 companies are
headquartered in the Northeast - as are seven of the world's top 20 research
universities. And most of our population is consolidated in dense cities close
enough to each other to make travel by train much more convenient than
flying.

"At the same time, because of all this activity, the
Northeast is approaching a transportation crisis. Our airports are among the
most clogged, our highways are among the most congested, and our train corridor
is the most heavily used in the country.

"All that is only going to get worse with the region's
population expected to grow by 40 percent by 2050. That doesn't just affect New
York, it affects the whole country.

"As Chairman Mica noted, New York's clogged airports are
responsible for flight delays around the country. If we want to reduce those
delays, and keep this engine of growth driving the American economy, we need to
unclog the fuel lines.

"And the best way is via a high-speed rail line.
High-speed rail would add the equivalent of about 1,900 lane miles of interstate
- except, of course, this would be an interstate with a speed limit of 220
mph.

"High-speed rail in the Northeast would be a boon for
our region and our country in other ways. It would generate travel and tourism,
raise property values and cut pollution and dependence on foreign oil. And by
reducing congestion on our highways, at our airports and on our commuter trains
- it would increase economic activity.

"We estimate that high-speed rail would generate more
than $7 billion in economic activity and create about 100,000 new jobs by 2040.
Because when businesses and industries are brought closer together they
inevitably see greater profits, creativity, and productivity.

"President Obama and Congress have taken a good first
step by allocating $10 billion for high-speed rail. And I was encouraged that
the President reaffirmed this commitment during the State of the Union, setting
a goal of giving 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25
years.

"That's certainly a laudable goal - but the money isn't
there for it yet. So we ought to start with what makes sense economically right
now. And at the moment, we're not doing that.

"Funding for high-speed rail projects has been divided
across 36 states, spreading our money so thinly that we run the risk of
achieving nothing at all. In fact, the current Federal plan allots just over one
percent of all high-speed rail spending for the Northeast. That simply doesn't
make sense.

"Especially because Acela is the only profitable line
run by Amtrak and the Northeast is the only corridor where there's demonstrated
high demand for high-speed rail.

"What we need is a new approach to spending
transportation money - one that's not dictated by politics, but based on
economics. We might not get all the routes we want, but we will get the
high-speed trains we need.

"Before I close, I want to mention one final idea we
need to explore if we want this to be feasible. High-speed rail could cost over
$100 billion and take a generation to build. While government should take the
lead, we need to make sure we have the structure and rules in place that don't
discourage private investment.

"The country needs to make smart investments in 21st
century transportation. And the evidence could not be any stronger: high-speed
rail in the Northeast corridor is the smartest possible investment for a track
to the future. Thank you."